Seeking to work and live better in the new year? It helps to look at all your work and home activities for things you can streamline or cut out altogether.

Web Worker Daily has some suggestions of where first to look. My guess is that the last one is ripe for a lot of streamlining:

  • Changing direction. Streamlining isn't limited to cutting back and dropping activities, but also to consolidating or changing up the work you do to align it with your goals.
  • Replace one for one. I've heard expert organizers recommend getting rid of an equal number of objects whenever you bring in new clothes, shoes or toys. This avoids building up clutter. Doing the same for your work activities keeps you sharp and focused, instead of spreading yourself thin.
  • Dropping energy-draining clients and projects. It scares some folks to think of dropping a client and losing the income, but think of how much more energy you'll have working with two great replacements instead. Energy-draining clients may bring in income, but it doesn't add up when you consider the time it takes you to do the work.
  • Social networking. I'm also seeing a trend in articles discussing cutting back social-networking usage. The key is to make the most of the time you spend on social media.

Everyone has their limit, and the key is to know how much you can take on and not exceed that amount. If you take a good, close look at your duties, responsibilities and activities, you can often remove the things that have little value to your professional and home lives and start getting more out of the stuff you do that matters.